Bella - Mutt

Name: Bellamy (Bella)Breed: "Whatchamcallit", Mutt, All-American!Age: 11 years oldSex: Female (spayed)Favorite Food: Whatever we humans are eating.List of Tricks: I've been trying really hard to get a good list of this and I'm really struggling to remember the bundles of tricks I taught her when we first got her. So here's the most recent/more prominent tricks she knows..

Sit

Down

Stay

Come

Wait

Okay(release command)

Paw

Other paw

Bang(play dead)

Roll over

Touch(targets hand with nose)

Target(targets hand with paw)

Bow

Get it(grabs toys)

Drop it

Put it away(puts toys back in basket)

Back up

Out(move out of the area/room)

Go(move out of sight)

Walk nice(no pulling on the leash)

Here(stay at my side when we walk)

Get him(rabbit related)

Are you shy?

Spin left

Spin right

Wave

Sit up

Dance

Leave it

Push(plays with soccer ball/similar ball)

Get your baby! (how we know which toy is her favorite at the time, haha)

Video:

^ my first ever video of dog tricks. D: I need to make a new/better one with more tricks.Favorite Toy: Anything soft that she can groom. Like.. a cat.Habits: Grooming cats. We fostered a litter of kittens a few years ago and she was in heaven. She absolutely loves baby animals. XD She kept trying to pick them up and put them in piles, groom them, etc. She got really attached to two of the kittens once we found homes for the others so we ended up keeping them. The kittens(well, they're around 2 now) still come to her for a nightly grooming every day.Problems: Probably her protective motherly nature(blessing and a curse sort of thing). I've wondered if she's had a litter before we adopted her(she was spayed at 5 or 6 years old) and if that's why she's so protective or if she's just naturally like that. When Annie(my other dog) plays with her kittens, she'll often jump between them to protect them. Also, when we took the dogs to the dog park and Annie was trying to play with another dog, Bella jumped between them as well to protect Annie. She's not a fan of rough housing. Haha.Strengths: She's a really obedient, gentle dog. When we first moved here, we found out that there were a lot of little kids around the neighborhood and were curious how Bella would respond(would she jump on them, would she be irritable with them, etc.) and she's been an absolute angel. She had a really bad ear infection one time and was in a lot of pain and our neighbor's 18 month old came out to see her(I was unaware) while I was cleaning outside and when I turned around, he was tugging on her ears. It's really impressive how well Bella did because when we tried cleaning it at the vet, Bella was so nippy with them about it that they said we may end up needing to sedate her(and like I said, she's a gentle dog--she was not comfortable at all). Bella just took the tugging and I ran over and had him stop. Proud mama moment, definitely!Tricks-In-Progress: Planning on working on jumping through a hula hoop. Also doing leg weaves!

Freedomdreams: She really is! I adore her. She was owned by a family most/all of her life. They were moving out of state and put her in a boarding kennel so they could get everything situated and ended up never coming back for her. The boarding kennel tried for around a month after the expected pickup date to get ahold of them and finally gave her to the SPCA. The SPCA kept her for a little bit, spayed her(they also had an issue with putting dogs on heating pads so she has a large burn on her shoulder that's covered by her long hair), and then when they couldn't evaluate her because of how timid she was in the environment, she was on the put-down list. What I was getting out of it was that they couldn't even get her out of her kennel. That was the fuzzy part of the story though. When that happened, another rescue that takes dogs in line for euthanasia/dogs that aren't doing well in a shelter environment took her. They're made up of foster homes. Bella was there for a few months(adopted twice), then finally we got her! She went through a lot. D:

Dogster: I know, right?! It's crazy! She's super excited to do her tricks. Her kitties are her favorite. She loves them dearly. XD

Yeah, she had a rough time! D: To be honest, I didn't even want her at first(I was 13 when we got her)--she just looked so pitiful! So glad I ended up taking her(my parents left it up to me since she was to be my dog)! Best decision ever <3

What a story, she sure has been to hell and back. But she's landed on her feet now. Just love her, she's just so beautiful and love the cat grooming, what a gal! So keen to do her tricks too, amazing focus!